Special Murder Charge Against Rossum Will Stand

SAN DIEGO -- A judge Thursday refused to dismiss special circumstance murder charges against a former toxicologist accused of poisoning her husband because he threatened to report her for having an affair with her supervisor.

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Hear From Her Attorney, Judge

Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes said there was sufficient evidence to support the prosecution theory that Kristin Rossum, 25 (pictured, left) gave Gregory de Villers an overdose of fentanyl, and that the powerful painkiller could be considered a poison.

The painkiller Oxycodone and the sedative Clonazepam also were found in the victim's body on Nov. 6, 2000, according to court testimony.

Prosecutors theorize that Rossum killed her 26-year-old spouse because he threatened to turn her in for methamphetamine abuse and for carrying on an affair with Michael Robertson, her supervisor at the county Medical Examiner's Office.

In court papers, prosecutors said Rossum and Robertson -- "an unindicted co-conspirator" -- had extensive knowledge of the drugs that killed de Villers.

Defense attorney Vic Eriksen told the judge that there is no evidence that fentanyl is a "recognized poison" and that the term poison is vague and not defined by state law.

Eriksen said that no witness at Rossum's preliminary hearing last year defined the "administration of poison."

"All we have is the administration of fentanyl at the preliminary hearing," the attorney said.

Eriksen said that there was no preliminary hearing testimony that fentanyl -- said to be 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine -- was a poison.

But Deputy District Attorney Dan Goldstein told the judge that the definition of what constitutes a poison has been defined.

The prosecutor said water, salt, oxygen or a drug like fentanyl could be a poison, depending on how it is administered.

Goldstein said there was no evidence that the 26-year-old de Villers (pictured, left) was contemplating suicide, as investigators first suspected.

"He had disdain for drugs," Goldstein said.

Prosecutors said Rossum staged an "American Beauty" suicide scene to make it look like her husband took his own life.

Paramedics testified at a preliminary hearing last year that rose petals were found around de Villers' body on the floor.

Investigators became suspicious because they didn't believe a man would have scattered rose petals around before killing himself. They also reportedly learned that Rossum loved the movie.

Robertson, who has returned to his native Australia, has denied any involvement in the victim's death.

Rossum, whose trial is to begin Oct. 4, is charged with murder and murder by poison. She faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

The former toxicologist is free on $1.25 million bail.